The
PayPal-offshoot Becomes a Weapon in the War Against Whistleblowers
and WikiLeaks. The Palantir document notes that most well-known
journalistic professionals “with a liberal bent . . .if pushed will
choose professional preservation over cause, such is the mentality of
most business professionals.”
WikiLeaks,
the transparency organization known for publishing leaked documents
that threaten the powerful, finds itself under pressure like never
before, as does its editor-in-chief, Julian Assange. Now the fight to
silence WikiLeaks is not only being waged by powerful government
figures but also by the media, including outlets and organizations
that have styled themselves as working to protect whistleblowers.
Pierre
Omidyar – eBay billionaire and PayPal’s long-time owner – holds
considerable sway over several journalists and organizations that
once championed WikiLeaks but now work for the Omidyar-owned
publication, The Intercept. Thanks to his deep ties to the U.S.
government and his own long-standing efforts to undermine the
organization, Omidyar is using his influence to bring renewed
pressure to WikiLeaks as it continues to publish sensitive government
information. However, Pierre Omidyar is not the only PayPal-linked
billionaire with strong government connections and a dislike for
WikiLeaks.
Part
5 - Turning Greenwald: exploiting professional preservation and
advancement?
Also of
interest is the Palantir document’s seemingly prophetic reference
to Glenn Greenwald. Upon joining The Intercept in 2013, Greenwald
relegated the rights over the Snowden cache to Omidyar —
essentially privatizing them after a billionaire with government
connections galore made him a very lucrative offer.
Greenwald
has described Omidyar’s offer as “a once-in-a-career dream
journalistic opportunity [that] would be impossible for any
journalist, let alone me, to decline.” This is a strong
indication that Greenwald was presented with the choice of
“professional preservation over cause” and, as Palantir
predicted, chose to follow the former. It is possible that Omidyar’s
influence over the FPF and The Intercept may have persuaded other FPF
members with a “liberal bent” to do the same.
Furthermore,
while Greenwald still voices support for WikiLeaks and Assange to
some degree on Twitter — mainly regarding Assange’s arbitrary
detention — he has failed to comment on the FPF vote, of which he
was part, as well as the virulent attacks against WikiLeaks leveled
by some of his fellow FPF directors and fellow Intercept writers.
Though his silence may seem unsurprising to some, given his and the
FPF’s connections to Omidyar, it has been suggested that his
silence may have struck a nerve with Assange.
Source,
links:
Read
also:
Comments
Post a Comment